What Jesus knew about income inequality

By Jay Parini

updated 11:38 AM EDT, Thu August 21, 2014

Pope Francis waves to crowds from inside a vehicle near Seoul Air Base in Seongnam on Monday, August 18. The Pope's trip to South Korea marks the first papal visit to the country since Pope John Paul II went there 25 years ago.

Francis meets with South Korea's religious leaders at Myeong-dong Cathedral in Seoul on August 18.

The Pope celebrates a Mass for Peace and Reconciliation in Seoul on August 18.

Nuns greet Pope Francis for a Mass in Haemi on Sunday, August 17.

Francis delivers his message as he celebrates Mass in Haemi on August 17.

Young Catholics attend a Mass conducted by Pope Francis on August 17.

Pope Francis kisses a child on August 17 upon arrival for the mass.

Pope Francis blesses the faithful on August 17 as he arrives for Mass.

In Seoul on August 17, Pope Francis greets the father of one of the victims of the sinking of a South Korean ferry that killed more than 300 people, most of them high school students, earlier this year.

Pope Francis kisses a baby as he arrives to celebrate Mass and the beatification of Paul Yun ji-Chung and 123 martyrs, at Gwanghwamun Gate in Seoul on Saturday, August 16.

Thousands of people line a street as Pope Francis arrives for a Mass to beatify Korean martyrs on August 16.

Pope Francis arrives at Solmoe Shrine for Korea's Catholic martyrs in Dangjin, South Korea, on Friday, August 15.

The Pope kisses a child at the Mass of the Assumption of Mary at Daejeon World Cup stadium in Daejeon, South Korea, on August 15.

Pope Francis gathers with thousands of the faithful to celebrate Mass in Daejeon, South Korea.

Thousands of believers sit in Daejeon World Cup Stadium for Mass with the Pope on August 15.

Pope Francis prays during the Mass of the Assumption of Mary on August 15.

Pope Francis enjoys a traditional Korean dance as he meets with young believers at the Solmoe Shrine in Dangjin.

Pope Francis waves to a crowd during his visit to the birthplace of Saint Kim Taegon Andrea, who was the first Korean-born Catholic priest and is the patron saint of Korea, at the Solmoe Shrine for Korea's Catholic martyrs on August 15.

Pope Francis prays with Daejeon Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik in front of the birthplace of Saint Andrea Kim Dae-gun in Dangjin.

Pope Francis laughs with bishops as he signs a guestbook Thursday, August 14, at the headquarters of the Korean Episcopal Conference in Seoul, South Korea.

Pope Francis walks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye before a welcoming ceremony at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on August 14.

Pope Francis waves to a crowd after his arrival in Seongnam, South Korea, on August 14.

The Pope shakes hands with a nun in Seoul on August 14.

People watch Pope Francis' arrival on a television at the Seoul Railway Station.

Park delivers a speech during a news conference with the Pope in Seoul.

Pope Francis walks down stairs during a welcoming ceremony in Seoul.

Pope Francis is escorted by Park upon his arrival at Seoul Military Airport in Seongnam.

(CNN) -- Does money make you happy? Does being rich contribute to your spiritual life and its possibilities?

Is the gap between the rich and poor a religious problem as well as a social problem in desperate need of solutions?

Jesus, Pope Francis, and brain scientists have asked these questions, and the answers are clear if unnerving. Wealth and power are dangerous for your mental health, your spiritual condition, and for society in general -- especially when they contribute to the neglect of the poor. New research explains how this works (more on this in a minute).

Jay Parini

Ridding the world of poverty is, of course, a fantasy. Jesus knew this: "You will always have the poor among you," he said (Matthew 26:11). He also said, "God blesses you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours." (Luke 6:20). Only a few verses before this moment in Luke, he cries (echoing the Old Testament): "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor." (Luke 4:18).

Jesus also noted, famously and controversially, that it is easier "for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:23-24).

Let's just hope that we've got some very skinny camels.

Jesus discouraged the accumulation of wealth, worried about its effects on those who had it, and took special pleasure in helping the poor, dedicating his efforts to them. He must have shaken his head at the large gaps between rich and poor throughout ancient Palestine in the first century.

Pope Francis has taken up Jesus' call on this. On his recent visit to South Korea, he repeated a cry that has become a central theme of his papacy, telling hundreds of thousands of listeners in Seoul that the gap between the rich and poor in Korea was a problem, and they should think back to early Christian martyrs in Korea.

He said: "Their example has much to say to us who live in societies where, alongside immense wealth, dire poverty is silently growing; where the cry of the poor is seldom heeded and where Christ continues to call out to us, asking us to love and serve him by tending to our brothers and sisters in need."

Everyone knows that the wealth gap in the U.S. has increased dramatically. "The top 10 percent took more than half of the country's overall income in 2012, the highest proportion recorded in a century of government record keeping," The New York Times reported in April.

It's a problem that makes you dizzy, and one that will never be easily solved. Indeed, the concentration of wealth at the very top of American society recalls the early 20th century, before the income-leveling measures of the New Deal kicked in.

The growing income gap is perhaps the most pressing issue before the world, not just the United States, as the level of misery rises among the poor. Even those formerly known as the middle class, who have struggled mightily to make ends meet for decades now, face an array of problems that create mental and physical pain on a vast scale.

So let's go back to Jesus and Pope Francis and their concerns. Do people on the other end of this inequality equation really fare better? Does wealth make you happy? Jesus certainly didn't think so, as the Baptist thinker Alan Bean has recently noted. He writes: "The American marriage between market capitalism and American evangelical piety makes Jesus impossible. His words are inconvenient at best and heretical at worst." Wow. Bean has spoken frankly and bravely here.

"Power diminishes all varieties of sympathy," explains Dacher Keltner, a social psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, in a recent interview on NPR. Conversely, those who feel poor and marginalized in society show a great deal of sympathetic activity.

The ability to sympathize with those around us seems crucial to our survival, and it's connected to the mirroring functions of the brain. As the research now suggests, the richer and more powerful we feel, the deader will be that area of our brain where this crucial activity, which generates empathy, occurs. In fact, power fundamentally changes the way we respond to those around us.

Is it any wonder that when a rich young man came to Jesus asking for spiritual guidance, Jesus said: "If you wish to feel complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." (Matthew 19:21). The young man "went away grieving," as he had so much property and didn't want to let go of anything.

But letting go is essential to our own happiness as well as the world's economic equilibrium. Jesus, Pope Francis and brain scientists would agree on this. It's a hard teaching, but it's important.